Cheaper pellets misfiring in match guns?

[zanemoseley]

I just got my FAS 6004 yesterday and am very impressed so far. I got the following pellets to try:

RWS Meisterkugeln
RWS R10
RWS Hobby
JSB Match Diablo
JSB Schak

They all work good except the RWS Hobby pellets, they misfire almost every time. It sounds like it just leaks air around the pellet or something. It is the only pellet with a ribbed skirt which might have something to do with it. Actually I tried this pellet first and though I had a bad pistol lol, switched pellets and had no more issues. Is it common for match pistols to have issues with cheaper pellets?

[william]

"Is it common for match pistols to have issues with cheaper pellets?"

Nope! Never heard of such a thing.

[PaulB]

I have been shooting precision air gun since 1973 and I have never used a cheap "low end" pellet. Pellets are so relatively inexpensive when compared with .22 ammo there is almost no reason to cut corners on the price of pellets. The best ones certainly shoot better. Does it really make sense trying to save money on pellets when you are probably only talking about at most a few hundred dollars saved over the course of a year even if you are buying for a team.

[Andre]

Air shouldn't be leaking around the pellet, as the skirt of the pellet is designed to expand like a balloon and fill the bore of the barrel. The head size on Hobbys is probably not constant.

[Rover]

I never heard of such a thing either. Hobbies are usually on the "fat" side. Try poking them deeply with the tip of a BIC pen.

I see you tried many pellets, but not what I recommended....RWS Basic.

[zanemoseley]

Well Airguns of Arizona replied saying they had similar issues when testing the new batch of 6004 guns saying they had issues shooting RWS wadcutter pellets. Mine shoots the R10 and Meisterkugeln fine but don't like the Hobby pellets. It would have been nice if they would have mentioned something if this was an issues they were having as I ordered 2000 RWS pellets, luckily all but the 500 are usable.

[Wynne G Oldman]

In my opinion, Hobby's are a very good pellet for the price, but don't work so well in low powered pistols, as they're a bit on the tight side.

[zanemoseley]

In my opinion, Hobby's are a very good pellet for the price, but don't work so well in low powered pistols, as they're a bit on the tight side.

Well that would make sense as the FAS 6004 is only 400 fps.

[pgmlml]

i've seen many people shooting RWS Hobby peellets on hi-end match guns (pistols and rifles), without any problems!

[william]

If air is leaking / blowing past the pellet, then the force is SO low as to not expand the skirt into the bore. An air pistol with kind of "issue" is not a serious piece of hardware.

[TomAmlie]

I was at a match this past weekend and the fellow next to me had a new FAS 6004 and was shooting RWS Hobby pellets with no problems.

[Rover]

Did you clean the crap out of the bore (grease and crud) that you'll find in a new gun?

Did you oil the piston O-rings with a non-dieseling lube?

[kevinweiho]

My anemic Gamo Compact which is comparable to the velocity of the FAS 6004 shoots the Hobby pellets accurately. If your pistol is leaking air around the pellet, check the breech seal, it might be defective or is not properly sealing the air when the valve dumps the precompressed air. Also make sure that the pellet skirt is flush with the breech. I'll have to agree that tight fitting pellets do give problems in low powered airguns.

[Gerard]

My Webley Junior pistol shoots RWS Hobby pellets at about 300fps. It has no problem getting them through the barrel. If you were planning on using the Hobby and nothing else, I'd suggest reaming the breech slightly to enable proper seating of this larger than average pellet. But probably a better pellet is a better solution. Hobby pellets are often covered in flakes of lead, hardly ideal for accuracy or maintaining a clean breech seal.

[therider]

they misfire almost every time.

Can you please define "misfire"

[Rover]

Since we haven't heard back on the results of my possible "fixes", here's another: after you load a Hobby, close and reopen the gun. Examine the base (skirt) of the pellet for damage. If not seated deeply enough, it may be bent when closing the gun (which is why is suggested poking them in with a BIC) allowing the air to leak by. The pen poking will also alleviate requiring the air the resize the pellet smaller.

[zanemoseley]

Tonight I was shooting the Schak pellet which work great and shot my best score yet of a 511 which still has a lot of room for improvement. I decided to measure the Schak verus the Hobby pellets. The hobby pellets averaged at least .005 larger in diameter up to .007" larger, they ranged from .177 to .179 where the schak's were more consistent at .1725 on average.

The misfire is kinda hard to describe but its a very faint "pop" followed by a light hiss where the air leaks. I tried another hobby pellet and it must have been an especially large one as I tried shooting it about 6 times before having to remove it from the barrel.

[Rover]

Then you didn't poke it in? You know, Beeman sells/sold a device just for that purpose. Using the ball end to seat pellets gave a slight increase in accuracy in my testing, but I was too lazy to follow up with it. I just use my thumb.

I told you the Hobbies were fat and probably needed to be seated. Didn't you believe me?

[conradin]

Just use the RWS Meisterkugeln and no need to worry about anything.
Also, use a pellet shaper for the Hobby to see if the skirts are consistent. I remember experiencing problems with QY because of their packaging allowing some of their pellets to get crushed. They put them inside a soft transparent plastic "can".

[conradin]

Then you didn't poke it in? You know, Beeman sells/sold a device just for that purpose. Using the ball end to seat pellets gave a slight increase in accuracy in my testing, but I was too lazy to follow up with it. I just use my thumb.

I'm afraid they have stopped making those for a long time.